National Doughnut Day: Sweet dough-raiser celebrates 75 years

National Doughnut Day is celebrating its 75th anniversary, so consider this your permission slip to eat a doughnut, guilt-free. (At least that’s what we’re telling ourselves.)

National Doughnut Day is the first Friday in June, begun in 1938 as a way to help raise “dough� during the Great Depression and to honor both the American soldiers who served in France and Germany during World War I as well as the “doughnut lassies� who provided them a little something sweet, according to the Salvation Army:

“These female volunteers, earning the nickname ‘Doughnut Lassies’ and ‘Doughnut Girls,’ fried the donuts in soldiers’ helmets, and served countless treats to grateful troops. The donut has since been a long-standing symbol of the services and comfort The Salvation Army provides. To this day, The Army continues to provide comfort with coffee and donuts to survivors and emergency responders who need support on the scene of disaster.�

PHOTOS: Homemade doughnut recipes for National Doughnut Day

Many doughnut shops are offering fundraising deals for the day and, in some cases, are offering free doughnuts as well.

If you want to support the Salvation Army on National Doughnut Day, look for this poster hanging outside more than 1,000 independently owned doughnut shops. Purchasing a doughnut from one of these shops -- united by BakeMart, a national baking supply company -- will raise money for the Salvation Army’s work serving veterans.

Participating Krispy Kreme outlets are also offering freebies on National Doughnut Day, and Dunkin’ Donuts is offering a free doughnut with a beverage purchase. (Make sure you check with your local outlet before heading over there. We wouldn’t want you to be disappointed.) If you know of any other places offering free doughnuts, let everyone know in the comments section below.

If you do happen to hit up a Dunkin’ Donuts, you’ll find something new on the menu there, starting Friday: A bacon-and-egg sandwich... on a glazed doughnut. Kid you not.

Also being unveiled on this National Doughnut Day: ICDC (which stands for Ice Cream, Doughnuts and Coffee) is expected to open by the end of the summer, but the BLD-adjacent shop on Beverly Boulevard is previewing its menu today, in honor of this epic “holiday.�

Finally, some interesting search data from Yahoo:

America has a preference for the spelling “donuts,� using it as a search times four times more frequently than “doughnuts.� (The Los Angeles Times’ style sheet calls for the “doughnut� spelling, and the Salvation Army refers to this as “National Donut Day.�)

The nation’s top doughnut-maker appears to be Dunkin’ Donuts. That chain was searched for 21 times more than Krispy Kreme in the last 30 days. The top search was for “dunkin donuts locations,� according to Yahoo.

Searches for “homemade donut recipes� and “doughnut recipe� also spiked this month on Yahoo, as well as “how to make donuts,� perhaps in anticipation of National Doughnut Day. To that end, we put together a photo gallery -- above -- of some of our favorite homemade doughnut recipes from the Los Angeles Times Test Kitchen.

All that said, “cupcakes� and “cakes� still get more searches than either “donuts� or “doughnuts,� according to Yahoo.

Do you plan to indulge in a doughnut on this National Doughnut Day?

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